Chapter Four

"Savannah."

He looked as though five days had passed instead of five years. And her reaction to him was just as strong as it had been on that day so long ago.

"Oh, Lord." She took a tentative step forward and bit her lip. Was this what it was like when you went crazy?

"You're not crazy, love," he said, his voice warm and soothing, and she leaned forward almost against her will.

"You can hear me? You can hear my private thoughts?" she demanded of the dream figure.

"You were speaking out loud." He shrugged and swung off the porch to land a mere foot away from where she stood.

"You're finally here," she whispered in awe. "I was wondering when…"

"You were waiting for me?"

The thought seemed to please him, and she nodded. "But that can't be, since you're a figment of my imagination." She looked to the sky, to that dark bowl studded with small, twinkling white stars, and took a deep breath.

"I was waiting for you," he murmured, moving closer. "Walk with me?"

"Well … since this is all a dream, why not?" She placed her hand in his larger one and followed him down the path they had walked before.

Instead of veering off to head for the clearing, they went south toward an open pasture. A white lattice fence enclosed a vast area of grass and tumbleweed.

"There's no house here," she remarked, thinking that a white clapboard house would look perfect among the open land and the miles of white lattice. This place had a vastly different feel than the middle-of-the-woods atmosphere of the three-story house she'd just been standing in front of, but then, dreams were often strange, weren't they? After all, she'd started this one out by running down a beach—alone.

"Do you want there to be?"

"No," she said, redirecting her attention to the picturesque landscape before them. She dropped to the ground and stretched against grass that was softer than butter. "This reminds me of the farm in Iowa."

"That makes you sad." He eased to the ground beside her and watched her from hooded eyes.

"No… Yes." She laughed in the next instant. "I guess maybe it does. It shouldn't. I left behind Iowa and the Willow Brook a long time ago. I left the Holbrooks so far behind I would never have to think of them ever again. That was the plan anyway." She smiled ruefully and rolled to her back for a better look at the night sky.

It was a testament to his will that he didn't touch her, he thought as he became filled with a need that could overtake them both if he allowed it. Five years was a damn long time…

"The Holbrooks weren't your real parents, then?" he asked, shoving his desire away and studying her through what dim light the moon allowed. With a flick of his wrist and a carefully directed thought, he could have given them a brighter moon, and maybe a few more stars, but just then, he didn't want Savannah's full attention on him. Maybe when he felt more under control… So he asked about her life in Iowa. He already knew that the Holbrooks weren't her natural parents, but he wanted to keep her talking.

"Lord, no," she huffed, stroking her hands along the grass on either side of her. "They took me in as a foster when I was almost nine years old. I grew up in that great big house in Iowa, the Willow Brook Estate, they like to call it. It's really a working farm—a ranch—and I was more of a ranch hand than a daughter. It was like that from day one," she explained. "Bayleigh, their only child, was a few years older than me. She wasn't allowed to play with me and was barely permitted to speak to me. She did, of course, but Vern and Myra didn't exactly encourage a close relationship." She lifted a slim shoulder in a rare sullen gesture.

"Was there anyone else in the house with you?"

"No." She frowned. "Well, yes. Once, there was. You mean apart from family and the occasional neighbor or visitor?" At his nod, she continued. "They fostered a boy for a little while. He didn't stay with us very long at all. I think I had been there for a year, so I would have been nine, almost ten years old."

"What happened?"

"To the little boy?"

"Yes," he whispered, his gaze remaining fixated on her.

"I wish I knew. He was there one day and gone the next. I guess they gave him back to the state, or he went back to his parents. They ignored him even more so than me. I'm guessing it didn't work out." Savannah frowned. "I missed him when he was gone. At the time, he was the only friend I had. God, I haven't thought of him in years … but I remember now, his name was Aidan. He used to sit with me for hours at night when I cried."

"You cried at night?" He knew the answer to that, too, but the thought still tore at him, and he trailed a finger down her face, sweeping away thick strands of soft chestnut hair.

"Sometimes. Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore. That place is gone for me. I have a new life, one I made for myself."

"Are you happy now?"

"Yes. I left the day after…" She blushed. "The day after we met in the woods. I ended up in a church in Georgia. Out of money, out of food, out of everything, pretty much." She rose up on her arms and let her head loll back until the tips of her hair brushed the grass. "A pastor and his wife took me in. They helped me get into college at the end of the summer. I made a lot of friends and got my degree in logistics management. I got a job and an apartment and finally a house to rent. I did all right."

"You did better than just okay. You're amazing."

"Thanks, even though I'm pretty sure you have to say that."

"Come here." He leaned in and kissed her before rising to his feet.

"Where are we going?"

"Home—"

* * *

The shrill beep of the alarm woke Savannah with a start. She rolled out of bed and hit the floor with a sharp thud, taking the alarm with her in a tangle of girl and electrical cord.

"It was a dream," she mumbled, feeling unreasonably disappointed as she climbed to her feet and headed for the kitchen. "Just a dream…"